Car-coupling



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. HUGHES. CAR COUPLING. v No. 429,194. Patented June 3, 1890.

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No. 429,194. Patented June 3, 1890.

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' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES HUGHES, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 429,194, dated June 3,1890.

Application filed March 26, 1890. $er ial No. 345,302. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES HUGHES, a citizen of the United States,residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCar-Couplers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object the production of a car-coupler adaptedfor general use, but more especially adapted for use on f reightcars,which shall be wholly automatic in the action of coupling, which in thecoupled position shall provide two independent connections between eachpair of draw-heads, and which may be uncoupled from either side or fromthe top of the car, thus avoiding the necessity of the brakeman goingbetween the cars under any circumstances. 7

With these ends in view I have devised the simple and novelconstruction, of which the following description, in connection with theaccompanying drawings, is a specification, numbers being used to denotethe several parts.

Figure 1 is a plan View of the members of my novel coupling detachedfrom the cars, showing the draw-heads in the locked position; Fig. 2, asimilar View showing the drawheads in the unlocked position; Fig. 3, afront elevation showing the lever for uncoupling from the top of thecar; Fig. 4:, a detail sectional view of the locking-block and theoperating-slide, the line of the section being indicated by at so in Fig5; and Figs. 5 and 6 are detail sectional views on the line y y in Fig.2, showing the locking-block and operating-slide, respectively, in thelocked and unlocked positions.

A denotes the draw-heads, each of which is provided with a lockingprojection 1, a locking-recess 2, and an unlocking projection 3. Theshank of the draw-head (denoted by 4;) extends backward in a case 5, andhas at its rear end a plate 6, adapted to .slide in the case, and beyondthe plate a reduced extension 7, surrounded by a coil-spring 8. Theextension passes through a plate 9, rigidly secured in the case, theoutward movement of plate 6 being limited by stops 10 in the case. Itwill be seen that in the act of coupling, when the two draw-heads cometogether, they will be pushed inward against the power of springs 8, andthat as soon as the pressure is removed the springs will restore theparts to their normal position.

11 denotes flat springs on opposite sides of the shanks of thedraw-heads, which bear against pins 12. These springs act to hold thedraw-heads central, and at the same time permit sufficient lateralmovement of the draw-heads in use. Each of the locking proj cations ofthe draw-heads is provided with a transverse opening 13, which isadapted to be engaged by the locking-pin of the opposite draw-head. Itwill be noticed in Figs. 5 and 6 that openings 13 are elongatedvertically, so as to insure that the locking-pin will pass throughreadily, and, furthermore, to permit of a reasonable amount of variationin the height of the platforms.

14 denotes a transverse opening in each draw-head extending through thelocking projection and also through the unlocking projection, theopposite side of the recess 2, which receives the locking projection ofthe opposite draw-head. It will of course be understood that thedraw-heads at the opposite ends of a car are counterparts of each other,and consequently that each draw-headis the counterpart of a draw-headupon another car. For convenience, therefore, I will describe a singledraw-head only.

15 denotes a locking-pin which is adapted to slide in opening 14, and isdetachably secured to a carrier 16, held and guided by suitable rods orstrips 17 The locking-pin is secured to the carrier by a bolt 18, or inany suitable manner which will permit its ready removal, should it berequired at any time.

19 denotes operating-rods connected to the carrier and extending outwardto the opposite sides of the car, each rod being provided with asuitable handle 20 for convenience in operation. Y

21 denotes guides for the operating-rods, which are rigidly secured torods or strips 17. 22 denotes anv arm rigidly secured to theoperating-rod and extending outward there- ICO from, which is adapted tobe engaged by an operating-lever 23, extending to the top of the car.

2% denotes a strong drawirig-spring, one on d of which is connected toone of the guides and the other to arm 22, its action being to draw thecarrier, operating-rod, and lockingpin inward as in the act of coupling.

25 denotes a weighted locking-block, which is suitably pivoted to ablock 26, rigidly attached to rods or strips 17. This locking block isalso pivoted to an operating-slide 27, adapted to move on a suitable ribor spline 28. It will be noticed (see dotted lines, Figs. 1 and 2, seealso Figs. 5 and 0) that the pivotal point of the locking-block to block26 is near its forward end, that its pivotal point to theoperating-slide is slightly in front of its pivotal point to the block,and that the weighting of said locking-block is at the rear end thereof.The parts are connected together in this manner, so that when theOIJQIttlIlg-SlldO is moved inward it must necessarily tilt the weightedrear end of the locking-block, raising it out of the locking position.The object of this locking-block is to retain the carrier andlocking-pin at the retracted-that is, the uncoupled-position. It will beseen in Fig. 1, in which the parts are shown in the coupled position,that the locking-blocks have been raised by the inward movement of theoperating-slide, and that springs 2t have forced the operating-rods,carriers, and locking-pins inward, the carriers having passed under thelocking-block and the opei'atingslide. This operation is performedautomatically when two cars are run together. The operating slide uponeach car is engaged by the unlocking projection upon the other car justafter the locking projections have passed into the locking-recesses. Theinward movement of the two operating-slides takes place at the sameinstant, lifts the two locking-blocks, which permits the springs 24: tomove the locking-pins inward, so that a double lock is effected betweeneach pair of drawheads, the locking-pin of each draw-head passingthrough the locking projection of the other draw-head and into theunlocking projection, so as to give a firm support to each end of thepin.

The act of uncoupling may be performed from the tops or from either sideof the cars. If performed from the top, the brakeman oscillates theoperating-leveron each car. If performed from the side, it is done bymoving the carriers and locking-pins outward until eachlocking-pinisdisengagedfrom thelockingproj ection of theother memberofthe couplingand the carriers have passed out from under theloeking-blocks The weighted locking-blocks will then instantly drop downbetween the earriers and the draw-heads, as in 1 and 5. As but onecarrier and but one spring 2t are shown upon each car, it is obviousthat to uncouple the brakeman must pull out the upper left and lowerright operatingaods, as

seen in Figs. 1. and 2, and push in the upper right and lower leftoperating-rods. In order that the carriers, operating-rods, andlocking-pins maybe retained out of operative position, so that the carswill not necessarily be coupled should they happen to be run together,as in making upa train, I provide the operatingrods with locking-notches29, which are engaged by locking-latches 30, pivoted to the outer guides21. \Vhen it is desired to lock the parts out of operative position, thecarriers and locking-pins are moved forward by pulling upon oneoperating-rod or pushing upon the other, and are locked in that positionby placing one or both of thelocking-latchcs in engagement with thenotches in the operating-rods. It will be apparent that when the partsare in this position contact of the unlocking projections with theoperating-slides will have no effect whatever upon the carriers andlocking-pins, and that the weighted lockingblocks will drop to thelocking position as soon as the pressure is removed. To place the partsin operative position again it is simply necessary to disconnect thelocking-latches from the lockingnotches. This will leave the carriersand locking-pins held at their retracted position by the locking blocksonly, so that when the locking-blocks are again raised by inwardmovement of the operating-slides the carriers and locking-pins willinstantly be moved inward by the power of springs 24.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. In a car-coupler, adraw-head having a locking projection, a locking-recess, an unlockingprojection, and openings 13 and 1 1, in combination with a locking-pinadapted to slide in opening 14, a carrier for said pin, a weightedlocking-block. adapted to fall between the carrier and draw-head to holdthe locking-pin retracted, and an operating-slide adapted to lift thelocking-block and release the carrier and locking-pin.

2. In a car-coupler, a draw-head having a locking projection, alocking-recess, an unlocking projection, and openings 13 and 14, incombination with a lockingpin adapted to slide in opening 14:, a carrierfor said pin, a spring acting to move said carrier and pin to thecoupling position, a weighted lockingblock adapted to fall between thecarrier and draw-head to hold the locking-pin retracted, and anoperating-slide adapted to lift the locking-block and release thecarrier and lockingpin.

3. The draw-head having a locking projection, a locking-recess, anunlocking projection, and openings 13 and 141, in combination with rods17 the carrier, alocking-pin detaclr ably secured to the carrier andengaging opening 14, a spring acting to move the carrier and locking-pinforward, a locking-block pivoted to the carrier and weighted at its rearend, and an operating-slide pivoted to the for ward end of thelocking-block, whereby the atter is raised when the slide is moved inward, as and for the purpose set forth.

4.. The combination, with the draw-head, the carrier,'the locking-pincarried thereby, and spring 24, acting to throw the carrier and thelocking-pin to the coupling position, of a weighted locking-blockpivoted to the carrier and adapted to drop between said carrier and thedraw-head to hold the carrier and lockingpin retracted, and anoperating-slide adapted to be engaged by the other member of thecoupling, whereby the locking-block is raised to release the carrier andlocking-pin.

5. The combination, with the draw-head, the carrier, the locking-pincarried thereby, and spring 2 1, acting to throw the carrier and thelocking-pin to the coupling position, of a weighted locking-blockpivoted to the carrier and adapted to drop between said carrier and thedraw-head to hold the carrier and lockingpin retracted, anoperating-slide adapted to be engaged by the other member of thecoupling, operating-rods, and an operating-lever, substantially asdescribed and shown, whereby the carrier and locking-pin may beretracted in. uncoupling.

6. The draw-head, the carrier, the lockingpin, and spring 24:, incombination with the locking-block and operating-slide, substantially asdescribed and shown, operating-rods connected to the carrier andprovided with notches 29, and latches 30, adapted to engage saidnotches, whereby the parts are held out of operative position.

7. The combination, with the draw-headhaving springs 8 and 11, of thecase having pins 12, plates 6 and 9, and stops 10, substantially as andfor the purpose set forth.

8. .The combination ,with the draw-head, carrier, locking-pin,locking-block, and the operating-slide, of rods 17 having guides 21, op-

erating-rods sliding in said guides and connected to the carrier, and aspring 24, acting to move the carrier and locking-pin into the couplingposition when the locking-block is raised by the operating-slide.

9. The combination,with the draw-head, carrier, locking-pin,locking-block, and the operating-slide, of rods 17, having guides 21,operating-rods sliding in said guides and connected to the carrier, arm22, connected to one of the operating-rods, a pivoted operating-leverconnected to said arm for retracting the carrier and locking-pin, andspring 24, for throwing the carrier and locking-pin to the couplingposition.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES HUGHES.

Witnesses:

A. M. WoosTER, ARLEY I. MUNsoN.

